Chapter 36

It had not been three days or four days - no, it had been a whole week before we had been able to leave Syracs and Sicels. I tried to convince myself that those last few days had been useful since Tofi and Toki had made sure that we had enough gunpowder and cannonballs that fit our cannon. They had been talking to people at Sicels who knew about those Barbary pirates. What they heard was both good and bad. The good thing was that our ship was bigger and our few cannons could shoot further than their cannon in their smaller ships.

The bad news was that they were merciless fighters and their ships were faster and more maneuverable than our loaded fluyts. I knew that our crew had practiced with our guns, but they had never been tested in real battle. I closed my eyes for a moment but opened them immediately when my mind reminded me about my first real battle - and those two dead Trolls. Their faces and the one who had said that he was sorry.

I shook my head and decided to go and see Snorri. I had not had time to really talk to him while at Syracs, but I knew that there was now another clock in Tofi’s cabin and that clock was in some special housing where it should not be affected by ship movement as much as it might otherwise. I just remembered that Snorri had not been happy with the previous clock and now he was taking it into pieces and making another, better, version of it. I believed that he knew what he was doing - when it was about clocks.

””Good day, Caladwen and Snorri. I hope that everything is fine here.””

””Good day, Stian - or should I say Sir Stian?””

””I’d be happy if I would not hear that word ‘Sir’ ever again.””

Even if I was talking to Caladwen, I kept an eye on Snorri, and I was able to see that the corner of his mouth moved just a bit. He had heard and understood what was being said, now it was clear.

””I’m afraid that things just don’t work that way, Sir - I mean Stian.””

I shook my head but allowed a small smile.

””There’s another reason for my visit. I need to warn you that it’s more than likely that, at some point, some pirates will attack us. We’ll do everything possible to avoid them but being as loaded as we are now it’s more than likely that they can find and get to us before we can get through The Big Strait. Luckily our guns should be better, but it means that we will need to shoot them first, and I’m not sure if all of our people can do that. But my main point is that when you hear the warning, stop working and prepare yourself the best you can. Most likely they’ll try to hit either our rudder or sails if they get close enough since they would like to have the ships - and the women.””

Then I turned towards Snorri.

””Snorri, I heard that your clock was much, much less than two tenths of an hour off at Syracs. I think that’s a great achievement, but I also understand that you want to do better.””

””Exactly - exactly - two fifteenths of an hour. Exactly! That’s too much, way too much!””

The little sailor in me wanted to disagree with him since that kind of accuracy was already unheard of while at sea, but I didn’t say anything since, in a way, Snorri was right. It wasn’t quite enough for accurate navigation but for finding something - perhaps. Except that we didn’t yet know if the accuracy would remain the same during a longer trip.

””However, I just wanted to warn you that something could happen with quite little warning.””

I could almost feel Snorri’s eyes following me when I left their small cabin.

Twice, we were able to lose those two ships that had been tailing us, but the third morning the two ships come into view ahead of us and they were closing rapidly. Both of our ships changed course in a way Tofi and Toki had agreed to do, no communication was needed for that. Once it was clear that those two ships followed us, the Island flags were raised - and gun ports opened. That should have made our message quite clear.

By now, the whole ship had been alerted and the crew found their places, most either with guns or with sails.

””Where are they? I will not let those people hurt Caladwen!””

I had sensed Snorri next to me, but I had not turned towards him as I had kept an eye on the approaching ships, sensing whatever I could. Which didn’t really tell me anything I didn’t already know.

“Please, use Anglon while on deck, Snorri - and no, I have no intention to let them hurt any of us, women or men.”

””But...”” - “But why have you been talking the Old Language to me, then?”

Now I turned to look at Snorri and couldn’t help smiling a bit.

“I think you know why, Snorri. I think you know, now. So, where do want to go - or what can you do best?”

Now it was Snorri’s turn to smile, and I wasn’t quite sure if I should have liked that smile or not.

“Take me to the first cannon that’s going to shoot at them and don’t try to tell me that you don’t know which one it is. I’m sure that you and those twins are quite prepared for this.”

I looked at the older man and something in his eyes made me nod.

“I’ll confirm it with Tofi first, but I’m quite certain that he’s okay with it. In fact I would have gone there myself with Baggi. anyhow.”

Tofi and Toki made a few more turns; not because they thought that they could avoid the battle but to test the maneuverability of those Xebecs, as Tofi had called them. A ship with both lateen sails and oars. Luckily for us, there was enough wind to keep our ships maneuverable as well.

Just before it was time to move to the gun deck, I turned towards Snorri.

“We have no intention to avoid battle, just to start the battle on our own terms and preferably end it almost immediately since we do not want to give them a chance to hit our masts or sails - or the rudder. We are quite certain that they do not want to sink us, but board us when we cannot escape. Even though I’m quite sure we would surprise them if they tried to board the ship.”